General Landscape Uses:
Water gardens and along pond and lake edges.
Ecological Restoration Notes: A common understory element of freshwater marshes.
Availability:
Commonly available at native plant nurseries in central Florida. Available at native plant nurseries in South Florida.
Description: Medium herbaceous wildflower from a basal rosette. Leaves strap-like, leathery, 1-4 feet long.
Dimensions: Typically 2-3 feet in height. About as broad as tall, the flowers emerging taller.
Growth Rate: Moderate.
Range:
Southeastern United States west to Texas and south to Miami-Dade County and the Monroe County mainland; West Indies (Cuba, Jamaica).
Map of select IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Map of Postal Code Areas of IRC data from peninsular Florida.
Habitats: Marshes and swamps.
Soils: Wet to moist, seasonally inundated organic soils.
Nutritional Requirements: High; requires rich organic soils for optimal growth.
Salt Water Tolerance: Low; does not tolerate long-term flooding by salt or brackish water.
Salt Wind Tolerance: Moderate; grows near salt water, but is protected from direct salt spray by other vegetation.
Drought Tolerance: Low; requires moist to wet soils and is intolerant of long periods of drought.
Light Requirements: Full sun to light shade or moderate shade.
Flower Color: White.
Flower Characteristics: Showy. Fragrant.
Flowering Season: Spring-fall.
Fruit: Green fleshy capsule.
Wildlife and Ecology: Larval host for Spanish moth (
Xanthopastis timais).
Horticultural Notes: Can be grown from seed and division.
Comments: Luber grasshoppers chew the leaves. See also the Florida Wildflower Foundation's
Flower Friday page.
